Questions tagged [writing-style]
Questions about the writing style of a particular sentence, phrase or construction in English. Questions asking for advice on writing style are off-topic.
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Should redundant "also" with "too" in the same sentence count as a (style) error?
As a non-native English speaker, I keep seeing (professional) articles, often by native speakers of English, that say something like "The bass is also quite strong too". This strikes me as ...
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Hyphens are used in words from 0-99 (correction 21-99), but what if a number larger than 99 is a compound adjective before a noun?
For example, which of these are correct?
The pizza delivery service had three thousand, seven hundred and eighty-two clients.
The pizza delivery service had three-thousand-seven-hundred-and-eighty-...
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Is it an error to use "it" to refer to two different things in one compound sentence? [migrated]
An example:
Alice: I've been to a vet. My cat has a tumor.
Bob: Don't worry. If it's not malignant, it will be fine.
Carmen: Are you sure this cake recipe is correct.
Daniel: My grandmother gave it ...
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Connotation of "for" / "for the"
I asked this question on ELL and got a satisfactory answer about whether "A new material for manufacture of bricks" is a correct title for a scientific article.
However, it seems that ELL is ...
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Trying to understand how to connect phrases/clauses with commas
Take this fragment for example:
The snow had come from the north, in the mist, driven by the night wind, smelling of the sea.
It is from John Le Carré's The Looking Glass War. I've seen writers do ...
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Is it proper to switch from the third person singular (The Department of Environment) to the first person plural (we) in the same sentence? [duplicate]
I often have to translate sentences such as:
The Department of Environment has offices everywhere in the country, and we would love for you to join us [us as in "the whole department, and not a ...
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What is the grammatical structure of {the + superlative substantive}?
Example 1: This was the deepest a submarine had ever dived.
Example 2: The longest a person can hold their breath for is...
I've looked at a couple grammar resources including "the Cambridge ...
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"2+ Million" or "2 Million+"?
When using a plus sign for brevity in a phrase like "over two million", where should the plus sign go?
2+ Million
2 Million+
The same concept would happen with thousand, billion, etc.
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Is verb order significant when someone is [verb1]ing and [verb2]ing?
I came across some interesting dialogue in a tense scene in a novel, Salvation Lost by Peter F Hamilton:
"We'll know exactly what the other [people] are seeing and doing."
"Doing and ...
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Strunk and White and The Elements of Style: Removing "the fact that"
According to the Elements of Style, Rule 17, "the fact that" should be edited out of every sentence.
Here's one I'm working on:
"The fact that standard software cannot fit it highlights ...
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Which one is better "all incurred expenses" or "all expenses incurred?" [duplicate]
I am writing this document for HR at work and wish to outline what our staff should do to get reimbursed. The sentence should be something along the lines of...
All incurred expenses/expenses ...
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Usage of "you" in scientific papers
According to numerous questions (e.g Is it recommended to use "we" in research papers?), one should use "we" instead of "I" while writing a scientific paper.
However, it'...
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Comparing word order: "with whom" and "with" [duplicate]
Sentence 1: A person with whom I am particularly close has moved away.
Sentence 2: A person I am particularly close with has moved away.
What are some differences between these two sentences that are ...
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Should I include a period in a quote when the quote is in middle of a sentence?
I have the following sentence:
In a disappointed and irritated tone, my mom suddenly said, “I always thought Sue would marry a Chinese person” right in front of him.
Do I need to include a period ...
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Creating system for noting secondary source in block quotation while preserving original source citations. New edition of previously published work
Working with a text that makes extensive use of a secondary source that will be given in block quotation and, of course, cited. The secondary source, however, contained many original source citations ...
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Simple Past vs. Present Perfect in a list
Consider these sentences:
(Simple Past)
I accepted the cars, hated the planes, ignored the boats, and romanticized the trains.
(Present Perfect)
I have accepted the cars, have hated the planes, ...
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What is this quotation idiom for?
Sometimes, I see a quotation in a text like this:
[F]ollowing the Civil War, departed from the Southern United States...
What does the [F] signify? I thought that it might be for a quote which was ...
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3
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The word to describe "clever" style of TV episode' s title
In our country we have long TV series (maybe seventy episodes in one series) without unique titles. They are just simply marked as episode 01, episode 02, etc. It is hard to find the specific one in ...
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Why does Oxford American English dictionary use "y" symbol instead of "j"
Oxford American English dictionary uses "y" symbol instead of "j" in their pronunciation guide. Most other dictionaries use j. So are there any differences between the 2 symbols or ...
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What is the origin of shorthand for "with" -> "w/"?
In many places, I've seen "w/" written instead of "with". At least, I think that one replaces the other. I couldn't find anywhere what is the origin of "w/".
Is this ...
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Style/usage with conjunctions
A) The modelling data can be reintroduced if needed, for example, if a new variant of concern arises.
B)The modelling data can be reintroduced if needed if a new variant of concern arises.
If for ...
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What does “This might easily be, the house having been long deserted” mean?
This passage is from Charles Dickens’s Little Dorrit, chapter 29:
There was a fair stroke of business doing, as Mistress Affery made
out, for her husband had abundant occupation in his little office, ...
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Are syntactic inversions mostly fixed?
I ask this because I want to know how the native in general would read a sentence like this:
Not rarely did they have dinner in that restaurant.
Does "not rarely" come across as weird? ...
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Why is the Oxford comma a stylistic choice? [closed]
I've gone through the threads on the Oxford comma and I am wondering why it is a stylistic choice rather than a standard practice, particularly with 3/+ items connected with "and"?
My point ...
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Using respectively twice for sequences of 3-tuples
Describing the 2-tuple sequence [(A, first), (B, second), (C, third)] is easy enough:
A, B, and C are respectively the first, second, and third letters of the alphabet.
What shall be done about 3-...
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Style adressing in the first person, "My Majesty", the King
Can style adressing be used in the first person, as in "I, My Majesty, King Charles, by the Grace of God..." instead of:
I, Charles the Third, by the Grace of God of the United Kingdom of ...
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3
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Is it correct to write "free-of-the-war"? [closed]
Is it correct in English to write "free-of-the-war" as an adjective via hyphens?
For example, "I live in a free-of-the-war part of Ukraine"
And how about "yet"? That is &...
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How to add/indicate my own emphasis to a quote that already contains emphasis?
Here's my original quote:
… at this point let’s remember that figurative does not mean “untrue”
or “less important.” Figurative language teaches true and important
matters. After one has determined ...
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Seeking an alternate way of referring to a "15-year ordeal"
Triskaidekaphobia has become a recognized, economical alternative to fear of the number thirteen. Is there anything that could convey a comparably concise impression of a decade-and-a-half ordeal? ...
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Why would a Burmese native prefer "alight from a bus" over "get off a bus"?
I recently read a script written in English by a Burmese native and it struck me as odd that they always used the phrase "they alighted from a bus" instead of the ordinary "they got off ...
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Is there a convention for indicating the new lines, when writing a multi-line quote of a few words on one line?
I wanted to quote something like:
Happy Birthday
Had a good time
See you next year!
However, I wanted it all on one line rather than creating a block quote out of it.
I tried
Happy Birthday | Had a ...
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Why don't we need a comma here? [duplicate]
I'm wondering why a comma is not necessary after the word cheekbones. Is there a rule for this?
He didn’t pay much attention to the movie. At least, he had been thinking he didn’t until he felt warm, ...
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Use of quotes when wondering
You are probably wondering, “why is this so? Surely the soil is the same wherever you go!”
Is this grammatically correct? Or should quotes not be used here?
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"You are absent of cause or excuse"
This is a lyric from "Achilles Come Down" by Gang of Youths. Is "absent of cause" proper grammar or a stylistic form?
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What is the symbol connecting the letters "c" and "t" called, and when did it go out of style?
I have become so used to the long 's' that I read it as quickly as if they were the standard short 's', but it took me awhile to stop seeing them as 'f's. Luckily the "ct" connection thing ...
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"a bit" vs. "some"
Disclaimer: I'm a German native.
I'm working on some software with a coworker from US. He just sent a message saying "if we decide to actually publish this as a real package, I'd like to clean it ...
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What is the origin of short form headlines in media/the news?
Every now and then one comes across a shortened form of headlines in media, mostly the news. For example:
Study: Inflation Forcing More Americans To Choose Between Buying Groceries, Aston Martin DBS [...
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Describing quantitative change in print. Which to mention first, initial or current value?
Is there a linguistic convention regarding whether to mention initial or current value first when describing change?
I believe analysis of cognitive processing (retention, attention and retrieval) ...
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Is there a term for the aspect of style where an author indicates who is speaking? [duplicate]
In a novel, for example, imagine the following sentence:
"I like chowder", Helen said.
What I'm looking for is the highlighted part. There are many different ways that particular sentence ...
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How many past perfect tense instances can be used in one sentence?
There's a sentence in which I have to express that one activity took place more recently than the other three. It's a classic case when past perfect should be used, but how does it look in terms of ...
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What did Tolkien mean by this awkward sentence structure?
In the first chapter of The Hobbit, I just read this:
“Thank you!” said Bilbo with a gasp. It was not the correct thing to say, but they have begun to arrive had flustered him badly. He liked ...
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What is this tutorial style called? "Now you're going to do x."
When someone (typically from the USA) is making a tutorial video and they say:
"Now you're going to go to the home screen and you're going to press X. Now you're going to click the white button ...
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Modern usage of the word 'hearken'
I'm doing some translation work and would like to use the word 'hearken' as the original piece (Chinese) has a religious and traditional feel to it.
Question:
Would the sentence,
"Such an ...
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Grammaticality of "Where go the hours"
In a recent comic by Poorly Drawn Lines, I came across the following sentences :
Where go the hours? Where go the days?
Son of a gun, where do go they?
Though the last sentence is clearly jokingly ...
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"Too great of a [risk]" OR "Too great a [risk]"? [duplicate]
First, I want to emphasize that my question is general.
I want your answer regarding all of the cases in the following sentence stractures:
[Adjective] + of + [Noun] (For example: It is too great of ...
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1
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47
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Simple Abbreviation Confusion
You know that a lot of words can be abbreviated like:
You know -> y'know
About -> 'bout
Going to -> gonna
and much more
To be honest, I found one interesting abbreviation:
Of course ->...
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What’s the most practical punctuation for this simple sentence? [closed]
I know this seems rudimentary, but it’s tripping me up for some reason.
Yuck. Mushrooms are gross.
I feel the period creates to much of a pause and strays too far away from the emphasis I want on ...
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Name for this grammatical construction in literary English? [duplicate]
I've noticed that in literary English, and especially (if I'm not mistaken) in dialogue attributions, there are two ways to attach an adverbial clause to an action depending on whether a connecting ...
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Remove duplicate use of "and" with different strengths? [closed]
I wrote the following sentence in English:
Part of a development group responsible for releasing security solutions for Google’s Security product and investigating devices while understanding their ...
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Object + subject + verb pattern [closed]
I have problems with the following pattern Object + subject + verb + preposition. For example, the simple sentence,
Things I’ve been struggling with.
The idea is that I'm not sure if that pattern is ...
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